1971 914-4 Clearance Height?, Noticed my 914 is leaning ... should I be worried? Options

[930cabman]

I would start by measuring to the chassis not the fenderwells. Flat/level garage floor to the corner doughnuts on the floor pan. Factory correct should be uniformly ~6 in.

I wouldn't count on donuts being factory spec height! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

I'd like to think the donuts would provide a datum, but perhaps not (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

[Superhawk996]

I found the invoice/receipt and right at the top it says, "Recommendations: front and rear shocks. Car sits lower on right rear and cannot be properly 100 aligned perfect. tie rods"

So yeah, I think I found my next steps.

I’ll post one more time.

Shock absorbers have nothing to do with ride height.

You will be better served to spend your time focusing on adjusting the front torsion bars and replacing the rear springs if need be.

Do the front torsion bar adjustment first - it costs you nothing but time to do it.

CV - 27 years as automotive engineer with most of that focused on chassis systems.

[930cabman]

I found the invoice/receipt and right at the top it says, "Recommendations: front and rear shocks. Car sits lower on right rear and cannot be properly 100 aligned perfect. tie rods"

So yeah, I think I found my next steps.

I’ll post one more time.

Shock absorbers have nothing to do with ride height.

You will be better served to spend your time focusing on adjusting the front torsion bars and replacing the rear springs if need be.

Do the front torsion bar adjustment first - it costs you nothing but time to do it.

CV - 27 years as automotive engineer with most of that focused on chassis systems.

Exactly, adjusting the front torsion bars is straightforward and easy. Can the bars (either one or the other) lose some of their ability to spring and return?

[unclemoki]

Actually, if this is all I need (replacing the strut insert), this looks a little less complicated (assuming I'm careful with the brake lines):

Porsche 914 front strut insert

[mepstein]

Remove the top nut with an impact. Pull the strut under the fender lip. Remove the gland nut on the strut with a pipe wrench. Use a jack to raise the a-arm and strut up into the wheel well to reinstall. Can take 15 minutes if all goes well.

[914sgofast2]

For what it's worth, when I got my 914, it was low on the driver's side. I replaced both of the rear shocks and springs, and it made the car level. No need to mess around with the front torsion bars. I would recommend just changing one thing at a time to see if the specific item you change makes the car level.

[unclemoki]

I found the invoice/receipt and right at the top it says, "Recommendations: front and rear shocks. Car sits lower on right rear and cannot be properly 100 aligned perfect. tie rods"

So yeah, I think I found my next steps.

I’ll post one more time.

Shock absorbers have nothing to do with ride height.

You will be better served to spend your time focusing on adjusting the front torsion bars and replacing the rear springs if need be.

Do the front torsion bar adjustment first - it costs you nothing but time to do it.

CV - 27 years as automotive engineer with most of that focused on chassis systems.

Thanks @Superhawk996 & @930cabman . I appreciate your insight. I've been trying to educate myself on what the Torsion Bars are and how they work. I didn't try adjusting them but I took a pic of their current positions. The Driver's side is about in the middle. But looks like the passenger's side is almost bottomed out which, if I'm understanding correctly, means it is almost adjusted as low as it can go (without reindexing as @Cairo94507 mentioned)?

Passenger's Side


Driver's Side

[unclemoki]

Remove the top nut with an impact. Pull the strut under the fender lip. Remove the gland nut on the strut with a pipe wrench. Use a jack to raise the a-arm and strut up into the wheel well to reinstall. Can take 15 minutes if all goes well.

That's what it looked like, thanks. As @Superhawk996 mentioned, this might not impact ride height but since it was listed as "recommended" by the shop, I'll probably do it anyway. Esp if it's that easy.

[unclemoki]

For what it's worth, when I got my 914, it was low on the driver's side. I replaced both of the rear shocks and springs, and it made the car level. No need to mess around with the front torsion bars. I would recommend just changing one thing at a time to see if the specific item you change makes the car level.

Yeah. Since the shop recommended rear shocks, I'll just do them and the rear springs too. I might as well do the front strut inserts too since front shocks were recommended as well. Once those are done, I'll re-assess. As @Superhawk996 mentioned, the front struts shouldn't have anything to do with ride height (that's the torsion bars) but again ... it needs it so might as well.

[Superhawk996]

You have plenty of torsion bar adjustment to play with and to get a feel for if you’re going to have to reindex anything.

Your passenger side is near max height so you’ll be loosening that one to lower that side. Driver side is low so you’ll be tightening (bolt clockwise).

Spray a day in advance with penetrating oil to make life easier.

Tightening raises.
Loosening lowers.

Take weight off the wheel when adjusting and never get under car without jackstands in place. (You said you don’t wrench much so forgive me if I’m reinforcing safety)

[Superhawk996]

. Can the bars (either one or the other) lose some of their ability to spring and return?

Yes but it’s pretty minor on torsion bars due to their size. Even if they do - you have the adjusters to compensate. @930cabman

[unclemoki]

I would start by measuring to the chassis not the fenderwells. Flat/level garage floor to the corner doughnuts on the floor pan. Factory correct should be uniformly ~6 in.

Thanks for the suggestion. I was thinking that might be a good idea since I wasn't sure if the wheel wells were supposed to be the same height all the way around. Considering what @Jamie and @930cabman said, here is what I got measuring to the bottom edge of the 4 "donuts" (which all seem to jut out from the bottom about the same distance):

Front Passenger/Right: 8"
Rear Passenger/Right: 7.5"

Front Driver's Side/Left: 7"
Rear Driver's Side/Left: 6.5"

Which suggests only .5" difference front to back and 1" difference between the right and left.

[unclemoki]

BTW - Found this image at the site below ... does that say 4.7" (120mm) from the chassis (car loaded)? Wow.

https://www.p914.org/p914_dimensions.htm